


Tea with Scream - A Wizarding World Cozy Mystery Novel

by badgerbashful



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Fun reading, Gen, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Mystery - Freeform, Honeydukes, M/M, Madame Puddifoot's Tea Shop (Harry Potter), Mystery, Neville - Freeform, Slow Burn, Slow Moving, Wizarding World (Harry Potter), Wizards, cozy mystery, draco - Freeform, easy reading, long fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:29:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28576761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badgerbashful/pseuds/badgerbashful
Summary: It's the summer between the 4th and 5th year and Draco is more than a little stunned at how things are shaping up.Off the train and home again just long enough to set down his trunk, he's then packed off with no explanation to spend the summer at his Aunt Alvamira's in Hogsmeade.But this summer is not going to be nearly as dull as he assumes. A killer strikes in Hogsmeade, a crime that baffles everyone and no one can even begin to trace.But with the help of an unlikely ally, the whole village of Hogsmeade at his disposal and a whole new way of seeing Hogwarts, Draco thinks that maybe they can find the killer themselves.Hopefully before they strike again...---------------------------------------A Wizarding World Cozy Mystery! Intended to be shortish novel length, you may find the chapters/story slow going at the start but we'll get things moving, I promise!Feel free to share you thoughts, predictions and guesses about the mystery, the killer, and everything in between!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Relationships: Neville Longbottom/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

“Oh bollocking bowtruckles! What is the point of you!?” 

Draco gave the side of his bed a swift kick, then yelled out, hopping on one foot as he held the other in his hands. He swore under his breath for a few moments before turning as he hopped, letting himself fall back onto the unmade bed that threatened to swallow him whole as he collapsed down onto it.

“No House Elf help, at least not for me. And a bloody bed with a feather tick that wants to eat me alive.”

He sighed, deeply, and not for the first time that morning. Waking in Aunt Alvamira's house was like the reverse of waking up from a nightmare. Instead of opening his eyes and being relieved that it had been a dream, he woke from a dream to the nightmare that was his reality.

The reality was that for no good reason (that he could think of) his parents had decided he had to spend the summer at his Aunt's Estate just outside of Hogsmeade. He had been home just long enough from Hogwarts to thump his trunk down at the foot of his bed and turn a slow circle in his room as he thought of the summer stretching out ahead of him. At the end of that turn, as he faced the door again, his mother was there to tell him that he needed to pack. That he was going away for the summer.

“Not for the WHOLE summer?” He had said, reaching for a small case that he could pack for his short trip. “Aunt Alvamira wouldn't want me for the whole summer.”

“She may not want you for the whole summer but she has agreed to take you for it.” 

His mother spoke as she waved her wand and a far larger case soared out of Draco's closet and deposited itself open on his bed. Draco had no choice but to watch as most of his non-school clothing pelted out of drawers and his wardrobe and into the case, all while nursing the sting of what his mother had implied.

“Agreed to take me. _Agreed_. As though I'm some.. Potter-like charity case. A total bother and belonging to no one, having to use the pity of others to take me in.” Draco muttered now, from the depths of feather bed that was slowly creeping further up and over him. 

If that hadn't been bad enough, arriving at Aunt Alvamira's had just raised more questions. She shouted to him, even when he was a mere six inches behind her going up the stairs to the upper floors of her very large but rather teetering home.

“No House Elf for you while you're here!” She had boomed at him, making him wonder how such a voice could come from from such a small lady. To be sure, she was as upright and poised as his father, but the top of her head didn't even reach 15 year old Draco's shoulder. 

“But you have plenty of House Elves.” He had said back to her, working to drag his case up the stairs and keep level with her so she couldn't accuse him of dawdling.

“Certainly I do! But they run the house and the guest cottages, they aren't here for the likes of _you_. No no my boy, you will do everything yourself while you are here. No magic, no House Elves, no other help.”

Initially he had thought it wouldn't be that much of a bother. It wasn't like he was completely helpless. 

But the blasted bed...

It had been the last thing his Aunt had said to him the night before, that he was to make his bed neatly every morning as soon as he got up. Which, while annoying, had not seemed like that big of a deal as he walked up the stairs again, trying to remember exactly where his bedroom was in the maze of doddering landings and halls.

In the morning, however, it became obvious that he hadn't a clue what he was doing. 

He had liked the bed very very much when he got into it. It was immensely soft, like curling up into the middle of a cloud. Even as his mind raced with questions and worries and confusions and, admittedly, quite a bit of hurt that he had been booted out of his home, he fell deeply asleep.

But attempting to make it. Trying to wrestle the sheets and blankets around the mattress that refused to conform to any one particular shape was, apparently, his ultimate undoing.

“Draco Malfoy! You best not still be asleep!”

He groaned from the depth of the mattress, wondering if he curled in as tight as possible he could hide there for two months.

“If I come up there and you aren't up and about, your bedtime will be directly after dinner for the rest of the summer! I'll not have any lazy layabouts here!”

That got him up. The sheer terror of being sent to bed after dinner for a whole summer was enough to catapult him upwards.

Thankfully he was already dressed, so after smoothing his hair out he retackled the mattress just as Aunt Alvamira walked through the door.

“I'm so sorry Aunt Alvamira.” He said, trying to look calm and like he was Very Serious about getting the bed made. “I'm afraid I'm not so familiar with making a bed like this. Quite used to a modern mattress, though after last night's sleep I rather think I'll be asking Father if I can have a feather tick like this instead.”

He half held his breath, keeping his eyes slightly turned towards the old woman, desperately hoping that being polite as well as offering compliments to her chosen furnishings would earn him a slight amount of leeway.

“Well...” She half said the word and half huffed it, though she did smile a little bit and reached to help him. “I don't hold with new fangled mattresses, though I understand if that's all you've had before. The ticks do tend to be a bit different.”

Draco exhaled a silent breath and much as he didn't want to, he paid very close attention to the way the other woman made the bed. He may have been seething on the inside about spending his summer here, but he certainly wasn't an idiot and looking to make things worse. Staying on his Aunt's good side was going to be a chore, but also in his best interests.

“There now.” She said, giving the neatly made bed a final pat. “I trust you'll be able to handle it from here on. I won't be showing you again.”

“Absolutely.” Draco said with a nod, sliding out of the room behind her and going down the stairs. “Not a problem at all.”

He followed her into the breakfast nook, waiting until she pointed to a chair for him to sit down in before he made any move towards the table, and politely waited until she had seated herself before he took his chair.

“I'm not really that hungry...” He ventured as she started loading a plate.

“Nonsense. Teenage boys are always starving. I won't be offering you anything fancy, but you will certainly never go hungry here.”

He took the plate, needing two hands to hold it without spilling, and set it in front of himself to eat. There was no sense in arguing. None at all. While he certainly had never spent an entire summer at his Aunt's, she was not a stranger to him and he knew to pick his battles. This was not a battle he wanted to fight.

“Are you cottages full up for the season?” He leaned over a bit to look out the wide kitchen window and down towards where the cottages lay. He couldn't see them from there but knew where they were. 

His Aunt owned a great deal of land and a half dozen or so cottages that were paced around a small lake. She had been running it as a vacation spot since long before he was born and had earned herself a bit of a 'bohemian' reputation among the family because of it. 

She was, as far as Draco knew, the only one in his family that did any sort of 'real work'.

Not that he would ever say that to his father.

“Four are rented for the whole season, the rest I'm keeping open for short rentals for anyone travelling and passing through who may need it. You'll be helping out with that as well while you're here.”

“Oh... I see.” He was sure he knew what that meant. Cleaning, most likely. Changing sheets on more beds that wanted to eat him. Catering to the needs of others which was, let's face it, not his strong suit.

“A good stint of hard work is what you need my boy.” 

Aunt Alvamira had finished and was getting up. She clapped him hard on the back, making him cough and his eyes water as she took his plate. She made a few tsk tsk noises when she saw how little he had eaten, but thankfully said nothing else about it.

“So... What should I do first?” He asked, scraping his chair back and getting to his feet. Already he felt overwhelmed by his morning. Already he wanted just ten minutes to himself to try and spend some time puzzling out why he'd been sent there.

He could send an owl to his mother. Ask her again to please tell him, even though she'd refused every time he'd asked the day before. He thought perhaps now he was there and couldn't get away she'd be more likely to be honest.

“You will go and change into something a little.. spiffier.” Alvamira said, fluttering her fingers as she said the last word while also making a face at the jeans and shirt he'd put on that morning. “You will be accompanying me to Madam Puddifoot's, we're meeting someone there for tea.”

He had to work not to groan. 

Puddifoot's was awful enough to walk past during the school year Hogsmeade visits. He hated it there, hated the owner, hated all the people that crammed into it. Being forcibly dragged there by his Aunt, to meet someone he had to look 'spiffy' for, sounded beyond horrid.

“Off you go, we need to leave in half an hour.” 

She gave Draco a none too light shove towards the door and he reluctantly went to start climbing the stairs again, wondering why she hadn't told him while they were up there that he wasn't dressed appropriately.

Somewhere between the fifth and sixth rickety floors of her house he stopped and peered out a small diamond shaped window towards the lake. He could see a couple of the cottages from there, and the sparkling water that looked rather tempting. Wistfully he thought about finding a book and going down there to laze under a tree... Fat chance.

He sighed and was about to turn away when he saw a tall figure wading out into the water. One of the renters, no doubt, but whoever it was looked young. It was too far away to make out any distinguishing features past whoever it was being tall and clearly male, but it was easy to see they were young. Perhaps someone his own age, or close. Someone to talk to would be quite nice.

“Ten minutes!”

His Aunt's strident and piercing voice made him jump and he turned to continue up the stairs two at a time so he could get to his room and quickly change.

He bounded back down just a few minutes later and found his Aunt waiting at the front door with an 'I am not very pleased with you' look on her face. Draco smoothed his hair and gave her what he hoped was a charming smile.

“I'm so sorry, your home will take a little while for me to learn to navigate. I was on the wrong floor for a few minutes...”

She sniffed at him, but didn't offer any other admonishment or criticism before pushing out the door and starting up the walkway.

“Hurry, please.” She half shouted over her shoulder as Draco worked to keep up. “I don't wish to walk to Puddifoot's with the people we're meeting. Dreadfully awkward.”

“Walk with them?” Draco said, lengthening his stride to keep pace with his fast moving Aunt. “Oh, are they renters we're meeting?”

“Indeed, indeed.” 

She didn't offer anything else, and feeling rather helpless with everything, Draco lapsed into silence again as well. It seemed odd to be approaching Hogsmeade from the other side. Normally he would be coming to it from the school which was directly on the otherside of where they were. It made him feel oddly disjointed and out of place. 

A feeling, he figured, he was going to have to get used to this summer.

Still working to get in the good books, he rushed forward in front of his Aunt as they came to Madam Puddifoot's and reached to open the door, holding it open for her to pass through and earning himself a slight nod in response. It wasn't much, but he'd take it. He then followed Alvamira as she threaded through the tables and sat down with great purpose at one in particular.

He settled into one of the chairs opposite her, turning his head to glance around at the few people that were inside. There was an older couple that were acting far too young and silly for his taste occupying a corner table, a young woman sat at the counter looking dreamy, but, in a way that seemed to speak she wanted people to see her as dreamy and find attraction in that, and a small stodgy looking woman that was somewhere between his mother's and grandmother's age sat not too far away dressed in pink and more frills than he thought was necessary on anyone.

Far from the crowd of clamouring love sick teenagers that generally populated the place, but the same fluffy, valentine vomit gaudiness remained. There were bows on everything. Flounces on the miles of fabric that seemed to drape every surface. Beaded lampshades and glowing pink bubbles and frothy looking skirts on all the tables and altogether _too much_ of everything!

Draco shuddered involuntarily and rubbed his hands against the tops of his thighs, only then realizing his Aunt was watching him with a rather calculating stare. He smiled, automatically, not wanting to appear sour and in need of a tongue lashing.

“So..” He said, trying to keep his tone light and congenial. “Who are these people we are meeting? They must be important if you want to have tea with them.”

“Important? I wouldn't say so, not really. But they used to rent a cottage for the whole season every year. They stopped when the boy, her grandson, started at Hogwarts but have come back this year. I want to encourage them to keep coming as they are good season tenants. Solid people, never cause a fuss or make a mess.” Alvamira nodded her head staunchly, patting her palm on the table as though cementing a very impressive fact.

“That's fair...” Draco said, then remembered the boy he had seen wading in the water out of the window and smiled. “A grandmother and her grandson you said?”

“Yes. The boy is your age, and I expect you to be friendly with him for the summer, even though I would suspect he's a Hufflepuff.” She wrinkled her nose and shook her head a bit as if saying the word 'Hufflepuff' had left a bitter taste. “But I don't see how that would matter all that much in the summer. No House Cup or Quidditch matches to fight over, boys are simply boys in the summer.”

Draco sat back a bit in his chair, a little daunted by what Alvamira had said. There was little he hated more than forced friendships. He'd had plenty of them before he went to Hogwarts, plenty of children of people his parents were friends with and they just got lumped together. 

Somehow adults seemed to think that plopping children together meant friendship. Generally speaking it meant the opposite.

But he couldn't be ungrateful, not in his current situation of... Well he honestly didn't know his situation, did he? So instead he smiled and nodded, shifting to sit up a bit more.

“Of course, Auntie. I'd be happy to have someone my own age around.”

“Good boy, Draco.” She said, making him feel like a puppy more than anything else, then she sat up a bit more herself and smiled, raising a hand to wave. “Ah, there they are. Good morning, Augusta. Do come and join us.”

Draco steeled himself, fixed a smile on his face and turned as their guests came level with the table, perfectly ready to try and be as friendly as he possibly could stretch himself to be. But he stopped short, his eyes going a bit wide when they took in the pair his Aunt was welcoming so warmly.

“Sit, sit!” Alvamira said, beaming at the two who took places at the small table, looking as though she was welcoming the Queen. 

“Now then, this is my nephew Draco, he will be staying with me for the summer. Draco, this is Augusta and Neville Longbottom. Augusta is a very old friend of mine... Friends across the divide, I should say, given that she is a former Gryffindor.”

Augusta Longbottom laughed, a dry and crackling sort of laugh that seemed proper and ever so slightly superior. “Oh come now, Alvamira.” She said, patting the back of his Aunt's hand with stern, straight fingers, “You make it sound as though we are two different creatures entirely.”

“And you Gryffindors would think such a thing impossible while we Slytherins know just how different we are.”

Draco, who's eyes had been fixed on Neville, who had been studiously trying NOT to look at Draco, swung from Augusta to Alvamira, unable to tell if the two really were friends or were actually bitter rivals. The kind that you kept in your sight at all times so you knew they weren't stabbing you in the back.

Augusta, to her credit, laughed a little more openly at the rather sharp words his Aunt had spoken, and turned to summon Madam Puddifoot to the table. “Shall we order?”

“Oh let's get on with it then.” Alvamira smiled, folding her hands on the table as Puddifoot came over.

“Good morning, ladies... And gentlemen..” Puddifoot said in a simperingly sweet voice, giggling as she called Draco and Neville gentlemen.

Sickening.

“What can I get for you today? And I say...” Puddifoot stepped a little closer to the table again, leaning in and lowering her voice. “Have you heard the latest rumours coming from Hogwarts?”

Alvamira held up a hand to stop Puddifoot while Augusta seemed to match her look of slight distaste that the shop owner would start to gossip with the 'gentlemen' present. 

“I do wonder if we should send the boys out or keep them here. Surely they would do better on their own rather than being forced to sit through tea with us.”

Draco knew he probably looked stricken as he turned his eyes back to his Aunt. Being sent off to spend time with _Longbottom_? Have more fun with him on their own?

He couldn't believe he was thinking it but the truth was he thought he would, actually, have far more fun sitting through tea where he could just sit politely and listen rather than try and.. well he didn't even know _what_ he would try and do with Longbottom on his own.

“Oh quite right.” Neville's grandmother said with a nod, then pushed at Neville's shoulder rather forcefully. “Off you go m'boy. You don't want to stay here, I want to have a proper chin wag without having to worry about what you're overhearing.”

Neville seemed just as ill at ease as Draco, and his Grandmother had to shove him rather hard to get him to leave his chair. Draco got out of his without the need of a push, but he still felt more than a little stiff and awkward as he walked towards the door.

“Mind you stay in Hogsmeade. And don't you _dare_ buy anything in Zonko's, Neville, you know how I feel about it!”

Draco pushed the door open to walk outside, rather on autopilot as he turned to walk down and away from Puddifoots. He could hear Neville trailing behind him but he needed a few moments to collect his thoughts properly before he stopped and turned around.

Neville flinched and stepped back a little when Draco turned to face him, and a tiny part of Draco's suave and confident self was rather pleased at the fear that seemed to come from nothing. But at the same time...

“So..” He said after a few moments, pushing his hands into his pockets as he looked at Neville slightly critically. 

“You... You don't have to hang out with me or anything.” Neville said, shaking his head as he straightened up. “I wouldn't tell Gran if we didn't, you wouldn't get in trouble.”

“You best not..” Draco said sharply, his typical sneer crossing his face as he looked at the other boy. Realizing as he did that he had never really LOOKED at Longbottom before. He was kind of just a shape, a lump in human form that seemed of no interest and no importance to take in with detail.

“It wasn't my idea. I swear, I didn't even know that Aunt Alvamira was your _actual_ Aunt.”

“You call her Aunt, though?” 

“Everyone does. Even Gran does sometimes..” Neville raised one shoulder in a slight and helpless shrug. “We've been renting a cottage from her since I was really little. Until I started going to Hogwarts.”

Draco waved his hand impatiently at the other boy, starting to walk again. “Spare me your life story.” He said, though he knew he would have been more interested in hearing that if his Aunt hadn't already told him. “We're going to have to lay some ground rules for this summer.”

“Sure... yeah... Whatever you want..” 

Neville had moved to walk with Draco but kept half a step behind him while Draco stayed silent for a few moments as he thought. He stopped and made a sharp noise when Neville's taller frame ran into him.

“First..” He said, taking a couple of steps away from the other boy, turning to face him again. “We aren't going to get away with completely avoiding each other. My Aunt won't stand for it and I doubt your Gran will either.”

“True..” Neville nodded, looking down and scuffing one foot against the stone walk.

“Second... Knowing that we're going to have to spend time together changes nothing. We are not friends. We will never BE friends. I will simply tolerate you to make things easier.”

Neville nodded again but Draco couldn't help but notice the red creeping up to his ears and a slightly angry look on the boy's face. Probably because Draco had said he would tolerate _Neville_ but made it sound like that was a favour to Neville and the other boy would be glad of that much attention.

“Third...” Draco paused, then smirked a bit as he turned and started walking. “We are going to Zonko's and buying whatever we want.”


	2. Chapter 2

“I can't buy anything from here...” 

Neville whispered the words to Draco, too close to his ear for comfort. Draco shot him a dirty look, raising his shoulder to rub against his ear.

“Do you have gold?”

“Well yes...”

“Then...” Draco tilted his head to one side, raising both eyebrows as he looked at the taller boy. 

“Gran says I can't.”

“What she doesn't know won't hurt her.” Draco snorted a low noise, moving further into the store to start looking at the shelves.

It was, he had to admit, extremely nice to basically have the whole shop to himself. On Hogwarts trips it was always packed to the rafters and exceedingly difficult to move around in.

“But she ALWAYS knows.”

“Is she a seer?”

“No.”

“Then how does she always know.” Draco glanced up at Neville and couldn't help but smirk at the look on the other boy's face. “YOU tell her, don't you.”

Neville shook his head, glancing at Draco who gave him a slightly sarcastic look of disbelief before he nodded his head instead. “I don't know how she does it!”

“I do.” He picked up a particularly large box of Hiccough Sweets, shaking them in his hand. “Your Gran is a very dominant and forceful person and you aren't.”

Draco put down the Hiccough Sweets and moved down to the wind up rats that looked and acted just like the living creatures before he continued. “She learned that if she pressed you hard enough you'd tell her whatever she wanted you to. Now she's used it long enough that likely all she has to do is give you a very stern look and the words tumble out of your mouth.”

“That isn't fair.” Neville said with a surprising amount of heat behind the words, enough that Draco looked up with a slightly interested look on his face.

“No,” he agreed with a slight nod before going back to the rats, “It isn't fair. It isn't fair that I can know that so easily, but it is especially not fair that she's done that to you. I know she's your Gran and everything and she's raised you and that's lovely and whatever... But she's basically stripped you from having any independent thoughts and actions.”

Draco looked up again in time to watch Neville leave the aisle they were in and go to the next, clearly angry at the conversation. He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug and went back to what he was doing, picking among the rats until he found one that he was particularly fond of to purchase. 

He moved further down the aisle, looking at feathery spun sugar quills, stink pellets and had stopped at some small potted plants that looked VERY interesting when he heard Neville walk back towards him. He looked up to the taller boy as he stopped in front of him, then couldn't help but immediately smirk when he saw him holding an absolutely enormous amount of stuff against his chest with a very determined and slightly defiant look on his face.

“Longbottom... Good on you...” Draco nodded at the other boy who's ears went red though he didn't say anything. He tipped his head a bit, nodding towards the plants. “Did you see these? I don't know what they are...”

Neville craned his neck just a bit to see over Draco towards the pots and made a soft sound, dropping a few things as he moved closer. “Dwarf Alihotsy...”

“Come again?” Draco turned back to the plants, looking between them and Neville who looked absolutely enraptured.

“Alihotsy.. Well, Dwarf Alihotsy I suppose. If you eat the leaves it causes uncontrollable laughter. It's also called the Hyena Tree. These look like they've be cultured to be very small, but they're Alihotsy trees all the same.”

Draco raised his eyebrows a bit as Neville spoke, never having heard the other boy say so much with confidence and without stuttering before. “Get one.” He said with a nod.

“I can't... This stuff I could at least hide.” Neville said, raising his hands a bit with all the stuff he'd picked up. “But this would need sunlight and watering and care and everything. She'd have to see it.”

“Then I'll get one.” Draco said impulsively, moving in to look at the pots. “I'll keep it for awhile and then claim I don't want it or I can't take care of it and give it to you.”

Silence met his statement, stretching long enough that Draco looked around and up to the taller boy's face, creasing his brow. “What?”

“You'd do that for me?” Neville said, slightly hesitantly but clearly hopeful.

“I'm not doing it for you.” Draco said with a sneer “Not exactly. I'm doing it to one up your Gran. Now choose which one you think is best or whatever. I don't know anything about plants.”

They left Zonko's a little while later and decided to go to Honeyduke's when it became obvious that Neville's deviant purchases would be very easy to see as they were, but would also be easy to hide in the bottom of a bag of candy.

“They certainly don't clean up much in the summer, do they..” Draco said as they left the candy shop and he looked at a multitude of Honeyduke's wrappers skittering along the path in the breeze.

“Actually it's normally cleaner than during the school year. No students dropping things and chucking stuff around. Maybe they dropped a big crate and just didn't get everything picked up.” Neville frowned as he spoke, then shook his head a bit and caught up to Draco again as they made their way back to Puddifoots.

“It's weird being here without a crowd.” Draco said, looking around again at how empty the village was, smiling a bit. “Kinda nice, though.”

“Why are you here?” Neville asked, then ducked his head a bit. “I mean... Sorry... It's just I've never seen you here in the summer before.”

“I've never come during the summer before.” Draco said, raising both shoulders a bit. “I haven't got a clue why I'm here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just what I said, Longbottom. I have no idea why I'm here. I got off the train, went home, and then my mother packed me off here.” Draco scuffed the toes of one shoe against the ground for a moment as they walked, the anger at the situation raising inside of him again. 

“Your mother wouldn't tell you? Did you ask her? Did you ask your Aunt? Maybe she--”

“Shut it.” Draco spat the two words at Neville with a black look before speeding his steps to get ahead of the other boy. “My business, not yours.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence, getting back to the tearoom just in time to see their elder relations stepping out the door.

“Wonderful to catch up, Alvamira.” Neville's Gran said folding one arm around Neville and pulling him in closer, oddly reminding Draco of a boa constrictor drawing in it's prey. “I have some errands to run so we won't walk back with you.

Aunt Alvamira raised a hand with a smile before turning to head away with Draco. “Thank Merlin for that. So awkward to end a conversation and then walk in the same direction as someone.” She muttered, falling silent for a few steps, then seemed to remember Draco was there. “So? How was the Grandson?”

“Fine.” Draco said, curving one side of his mouth up and leaving it at that. It was the truth, it actually had been fine, and there really wasn't anything else to say about it.

The afternoon passed in a blur of half instructions and lists that his Aunt had made for him, gearing him up for the next day when he'd start his duties cleaning the cabins. It wasn't until much later that evening when Draco had made a bid for freedom and went down towards the lake that he felt he had any time to actually think about this day again.

He'd told his Aunt that Neville was fine, and it was true. It had been fine. Longbottom was a target and a fairly pointless boy at school, but more than once in the relatively short time they'd spent together that day he had shown some backbone, some courage and some confidence.

Even Draco had to admit that was intriguing. To himself, at least, he would admit that to himself.

His mind didn't linger there long, though. Soon it made it's way back to the most pressing subject of why he was THERE. Neville had touched a sore spot when he pushed him about finding out why he'd been dumped there for the summer and while Draco maintained it was truly none of the other boy's business, he also knew that the only reason it made him so angry was because he had no answers.

Twice that day he had asked Aunt Alvamira about it and twice she had acted like he hadn't even spoken. He had asked his mother at least a dozen times in the short space of time he'd had and she hadn't given him anything either.

There was a niggling bit of his brain, way at the back, that thought it might have something to do with how the Tri-Wizard Tournament had ended that school year. With Dumbledore's announcement that Potter had seen Voldemort return.

But that thought made his stomach flip flop uncomfortably, and so he didn't probe too deeply into it. He was, after all, not a person who subjected himself to any discomfort voluntarily.

The next morning Draco was halfway down the stairs before his Aunt started shouting.

“Draco Malfoy! You better not still be in bed or--”

“Or you'll make my bedtime right after supper.” He said, hopping down the last few stairs and smiling. “I got the message yesterday. Good morning, Aunt Alvamira.”

“Good morning.” She said in return, giving him a tight smile and a nod of approval that he actually really enjoyed getting. “You better get on with breakfast before you start cleaning.”

She watched him like a hawk as he took the plate of breakfast, needing two hands just as he had the morning before, but unlike the previous day he found he was actually starving and tucked in with no hesitation.

“Is there any order I should clean in?” He asked, scraping the last of his eggs onto his fork. He wasn't looking forward to cleaning at all. Just the idea of having to clean like a _muggle_ was absolutely repellent, but something about Aunt Alvamira made it hard to even consider protesting.

“Not specifically. Best to clean while people aren't in them so start with the cottages that are rented by the night, they clear out just after breakfast. After that you can move on to the seasonal ones. Gives them some time to get out and about.”

Draco nodded, handing over his empty plate to his Aunt when she held a hand out for it and pushed his chair back to get to his feet. He'd put on the jeans and shirt that he'd originally had on the day before and had been vetoed for the trip to Puddifoots. They seemed to pass muster as clothing to wear while cleaning because his Aunt made no other comment as he headed out of the house.

The morning was fresh and still cool and despite truly not being much of a morning or sunlight person he found he kind of liked it. 

Crossing the dewy grass he stopped first at the small shed that his Aunt had pointed out the day before to get the cleaning supplies that were in a heavy wooden caddy. It took both hands and a small grunt of effort for him to lift it and carry it outside. He staggered a bit as he stepped out of the shed and knocked into someone taller who had just come around the corner, dropping the caddy and spilling the bottles and cans everywhere.

“Sorry! Oh... Draco. Sorry about that, I didn't see you.”

Having recovered his balance Draco looked up, pushing his hair out of his eyes and found himself looking at a very nervous and slightly twitchy Neville. He felt the sarcastic nastiness start to come up from his chest and it right at his lips to say something horrible to the other boy, but when he opened his mouth all that managed to come out was “It's fine. I didn't see you either, I was walking backwards out of the shed.”

Neville seemed to hesitate a moment, still twitchy and seeming to expect nastiness from him just as much as he had expected to say it himself. They were not, after all, friends in any capacity. And any other opportunity at school to say something cutting and degrading to Neville would never have passed him by. But he just didn't seem to have it in him that morning.

“You can help me pick everything up?” Draco said, leaning down to pick up the nearest bottle in one hand, pulling the caddy back upright to set it in with the other.

“Oh.. Sure..” Neville hesitated, but then readily moved around picking things up with the other boy, and with some shifting and re-fitting they managed to get everything back into it.

“Are you carrying these out for a House Elf?” Neville asked, immediately looking perplexed when Draco shook his head.

“No, I'm doing the cleaning myself apparently. And with no magic...” Draco turned his head a bit so he could see Neville's face, offering the other boy a dry smile. “I haven't exactly been told why it's so imperative I do this, but I'm quite sure it has to do with 'building character'.”

Neville laughed, nodding as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, one of which crinkled suspiciously and made Draco smile as he thought about all the Zonko's things Neville had bought the day before. “Grown ups seem to love to say things like that. I'm starting to get the impression that every single one of us is significantly lacking in character or something.”

“Or something.” Draco agreed, hefting the caddy back up again and starting down towards the cottages. He fully expected Neville to head off wherever he had been going when they knocked into each other, but the taller boy followed him.

Again it was on the tip of his tongue to say something nasty about the other boy _presuming_ to be invited along with him, but again it didn't come.

“Where were you going just now?” He asked, shifting the handle of the caddy in his hands and glancing up at Neville.

“No where, really. I just needed to get outside for a bit. The cottage seems a lot smaller for me and Gran than it used to.”

“Well you're at least twelve feet tall now.” Draco said, then snorted at the look Neville gave him. “Not _really_ Longbottom, but you're a great tall beanpole now and I can assure you that you weren't before, having known you in first year.”

“Yes well... I suppose that's true. But it's not really--”

“Physical space, I know I know. I was just making a joke. You're older now, and you spend most of the year not living with your Gran. The cottages really would be tight quarters for you.”

Draco stopped outside of the first cottage and knocked on the door. When he didn't hear anything after a few moments he unlocked the door and pushed it open, dragging the caddy across the floor and inside.

“I don't really need an audience for cleaning to be quite honest...”

“I could help? Then it wouldn't be like I was sitting here watching you.” Neville looked at him almost hopefully, hesitantly closing the door behind them without waiting for an answer.

Draco shrugged and picked up a couple of rags, tossing one to Neville as he straightened up. “Suit yourself then. But I can think of at least a dozen things to do that would be more fun than cleaning cottages like a muggle.”

“Like what?” Neville asked as he looked through what was in the caddy, seeming just as lost about what everything was for as Draco himself was.

Draco paused for a second, then smirked a bit as he started to pick up towels from the bathroom floor. “Watching Crabbe and Goyle pick bogies from their noses and wipe them under furniture.”

“Eugh... That doesn't sound fun, that sounds...” Neville trailed off as he looked up and saw Draco smirking at him, then laughed. “Right... Alright... Hm. Being water ballooned by Peeves.”

“Having Trelawney tell you for the millionth time that you're going to die horrifically.”

“Oh Merlin. Does she do that to you, too?” Neville laughed, carefully wiping down surfaces with the rag he was holding as he thought for a few moments. “Having a bubotuber squirt at you and it gets in your mouth.”

“Gross. That one is really gross but I have one better.” Draco smirked, flicking his eyes over at Neville because he knew he would get a kick out of what he was going to say next. “Watching as Snape parades around in your Gran's clothes.”

As he had sort of hoped, Neville looked over at him stunned, then burst out into genuine laughter, hard enough that he had to stop what he was doing.

“How do _you_ know about that?”

“Everyone knows about that, Longbottom. Everyone.”

“Oh it shouldn't count because that actually would be more fun than this. But only so long as he wasn't enjoying himself. If he was parading around in it and liking it, that wouldn't be fun.”

“Oh Merlin, I don't want to even think about that, We need a new game...” Draco said, laughing rather hard himself. “I can't get that image out of my head now. Snape all happy wearing your Gran's clothing.”

“Snape being happy looking in general is a terrifying thought.” Neville said with a fake shudder, sitting down on the edge of of a chair, wiping his eyes with the tails of his tshirt.

“Sour old git. I don't think he knows how to be happy. Or even how to smile, I don't know that I ever have, not a REAL smile.”

“I thought you liked him.”

Draco shook his head, sitting down on the arm of the couch, facing towards Neville. “I don't. But acting like I think he's tops is the only reason I'm passing potions, I think. I'm absolutely atrocious at it... Worse than you.”

“No one is worse at potions than me.” Neville said with a slightly pained look.

“To be honest, Longbottom, I think if Snape didn't purposely spend time scaring the wits out of you and making it so you can't think straight you'd do just fine. You're good with plants and half of potions is herbology, really.”

Draco looked down, shrugging his shoulders a bit as Neville looked over at him surprised, both of them lapsing into silence.

After a few moments, Draco's eyes wandered and landed on the waste basket and he frowned, getting up and going over to it. “Huh...” He said, picking it up and looking into it properly.

“What?” 

Neville leaned forward a bit to see what he was looking at so he carried the basket over to the couch, tipping it over so the contents spilled out.

“It's just Honeyduke's wrappers. Loads and loads of them...” He sifted through all the paper and cellophane. “I don't think a whole dorm of boy's our age could manage to eat all that in one night, but whoever was staying here did.”

“That's... not all of them.” Neville said after a few moments, shifting a bit when Draco looked up at him questioning, reaching into the pocket of his sweater that Draco had noticed crinkling earlier and came out with a hefty fist full of wrappers. “I picked these up around the grounds when I came out this morning.”

Draco held his hands out for the wrappers that Neville was holding, then tipped them onto the pile from the basket. “Merlin that's a lot of candy. And it would have been in one night, the person staying here checked in yesterday evening. I heard my Aunt talking to them and directing them to their cottage.”

“Will they be back?” 

“No, this is just a nightly cottage.” Draco shook his head again, then raised his shoulders in another shrug, sweeping the wrappers all up so he could put them in a large sack from the caddy of cleaning supplies meant to hold all the trash. “Wish I could have seen them, whoever they are.”

“Me too.” Neville said, moving over to start cleaning again. 

Both boys worked in silence for awhile, but glancing over at Neville a few times Draco saw the other boy was sort of moving at a snail's pace. After the third time Draco sighed in slight irritation and straightened up. “You don't have to clean with me, go do something else.”

“No.. Sorry, it's not that I don't want to clean, it's just that I've thought of something. But I'm not sure if it would get us in trouble so I was trying to decide if I should suggest it.”

“Something that might get us in trouble?” Draco said, raising both eyebrows in surprise as he tilted his head. “You have to tell me now, even if we don't do it.”

“Mm...” Neville seemed to hedge a bit, but smiled in a way that made it obvious he did want to tell. “ _You_ have to clean like a muggle... No magic. But no one said that I couldn't use magic...”

Draco couldn't help but laugh, smirking at the other boy and crossing his arms over his chest as he shook his head. “Longbottom, you astonish me with your reckless attitude.”

“I do have independent thoughts, you know.” Neville said with a slight edge of reproach that Draco knew was calling back to what he had said the day before in Zonkos.

“I'm starting to see that.” He admitted, then smiled more genuinely. “Go on then.” He said with a nod. “Let's use some of that independent thought.”

“What if we get in trouble?”

“Neville...” Draco said with a chuckle “If we get into trouble then we get into trouble, it isn't like some life sentence to Azkaban. It happens, it's generally unpleasant, then it's over. And from there we either stop doing whatever we got in trouble for, or we do it more sneakily so we don't get caught again.”

Neville thought for a few moments, so hard Draco could practically hear the gears turning in his head. Then he grinned as the taller boy tossed his rag into the general vicinity of the cleaning caddy, and pulled out his wand.

**Author's Note:**

> \-------------------------------
> 
> Thanks for sticking with this first chapter to the end! I know we didn't cover much ground here... But we'll be jumping in with both feet asap!  
> You're awesome, thanks for reading, I hope you come back and see what's next!
> 
> \-------------------------------


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